Citywire ETF Retreat 2026
The Citywire ETF Retreat returns for its second season on 14-15 May at South Lodge, West Sussex.
Over the course of this noon-to-noon event, delegates will have the opportunity to learn more about the role that different types of ETFs play in an ever-evolving investment landscape.
The Retreat opens with a panel discussion chaired by Citywire ETF journalist Nour Azhar, uniting fund buyers to discuss key opportunities and pressure points shaping ETF decisions.
On Friday, Laura Gilbert CBE, senior director of AI at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and founder of i.AI at 10 Downing Street will share cutting‑edge insights on data science, innovation, policy, and building a more human‑centred public sector through AI.
As with all our Retreats, attendance is strictly by invitation only, and delegates participating in the accredited ETF Retreat can claim up to 5.5 CPD hours towards the CII/Personal Finance Society member CPD scheme.
By the end of the ETF Retreat, attendees will be able to:
- Describe the benefits and challenges of using exchange-traded funds to diversify client portfolios.
- Outline the utility of different ETF structures to support client objectives.
- Evaluate the extent to which AI and data can predict future economic conditions.
We look forward to welcoming the brightest minds in the industry to what promises to be an engaging and insightful Retreat.
With best wishes
Ebbani Juneja and Nour Azhar
Keynote speaker
Keynote Speaker
Panel Session
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Keynote Speaker
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Keynote Speaker
Dr Laura Gilbert
Senior Director of AI and Head of the AI for government program, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change
Use AI to be more human
Dr Laura Gilbert is a leading expert in artificial intelligence, data science, and digital transformation in government. Laura has served as an Expert Advisor in AI to the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). She was the founding Director of 10DS, the Downing Street Data Science and Analytics team, Director of the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (i.AI), and joint Chief Analyst for the Cabinet Office. Her teams delivered cutting-edge data-driven modelling, AI solutions, and analytical support for policymaking, while spearheading a radical digital transformation agenda across Whitehall.
Prior to joining government, Laura spent a decade as CTO of a medical technologies company, leading innovations in wearable tech, data integration, and AI, and holds four patents—two as lead inventor. Earlier in her career she worked in financial services and asset management and construction.
Laura holds a doctorate in Particle Physics and Computing from the University of Oxford and undergraduate degrees from the University of Cambridge. She is a Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics, and a Fellow of both the Institute of Physics and the Institute of Analytics.
Meet the rest of the speakers
Keynote Speaker
Panel Session
Panel Session
Dan Caps
Portfolio Manager and Investment Manager
Evelyn Partners
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Keynote Speaker
Panel Session
Panel Session
Terry McGivern
Senior Research Analyst
AJ Bell
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Keynote Speaker
Panel Session
Panel Session
Richard Rainback
Global head of fund and ETF selection
EFG International
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Keynote Speaker
Panel Session
Workshops
Workshops
Calamos
The Progression of Options ETFs: Autocallables
Speakers
Options ETF AUM has grown +100x since over the past decade in the United States lead first by covered calls and then defined outcome strategies which were driven respectively by systematizing existing retail investment strategies and democratizing institutional strategies. Autocallables are set to benefit from both those trends together with a broader desire for equity-linked income.
Workshop Objective: To understand how placing laddered, volatility controlled autocallables within an ETF wrapper can enhance income, better define risk, and improve ease of use via accessibility, liquidity, and automatic reinvestment.
Company Profile: Calamos Investments is a diversified global investment firm offering innovative investment strategies, including alternatives, multi-asset, convertible, fixed income, private credit, equity, and sustainable equity. With more than $47.2 billion in AUM, including more than $22.4 billion in liquid alternatives assets as of March 31, 2026, the firm offers strategies through ETFs, mutual funds, closed-end funds, interval funds, UCITS funds and separately managed portfolios. Clients include financial advisors, wealth management platforms, pension funds, foundations & endowments, and individuals, globally. Headquartered in the Chicago metropolitan area, the firm also has offices in New York, San Francisco, Milwaukee, Portland(Oregon), and the Miami area. For more information, visit us on LinkedIn, on X (@Calamos), on Instagram (@calamos_investments), or at www.calamos.com.
Fildelity International
Differentiating US equity exposures with high-conviction active ETFs
For US equity investors, concentration levels remain high and valuations elevated. With the broad outlook for markets increasingly uncertain, looking further down the market capitalisation spectrum in the US could provide attractive return and diversification benefits. Meanwhile, as the global macro environment evolves, now is the time for investors to reassess their approach to US equities amid a potential change in market leadership.
Workshop Objective:
- A review of the current market environment in the US
- Understand current dynamics and why conditions may be shifting to provide a tailwind to companies further down the market cap spectrum
Company Profile: Fidelity International offers investment solutions and services andretirement expertise to more than 2.91 million customersglobally. As a privately held, purpose-driven company with a 50-year heritage,we think generationally and invest for the long term. Operating in more than 25locations and with $808 billion in total assets, our clientsrange from central banks, sovereign wealth funds, large corporates, financial institutions, insurers, and wealth managers, to private individuals.
Our Workplace & Personal Financial Health business providesindividuals, advisers and employers with access to world-classinvestment choices, third-party solutions,administration services and pension guidance. Together with ourInvestment Solutions & Services business, we invest $566 billion onbehalf of our clients. By combining our assetmanagement expertise with our solutions for workplace and personalinvesting, we work together to build better financial futures.
Source: FIL Limited assets and resources as at 31/12/2025 - data is unaudited.
Goldman Sachs Asset Management
Alpha Enhanced ETFs: A Data Driven Advantage
Representatives
Our Quantitative Investment Strategies Team will discuss the public equity investment landscape and explain how, in today's complex and data-rich markets, their systematic, data-driven approach - combining vast datasets, advanced technologies, and human expertise, empowers them to uncover unique perspectives and actionable investment insights in a dynamic market environment.
Workshop Objective: Explore how investors can effectively manage this environment to identify and capture potential investment opportunities
Company Profile: Goldman Sachs Asset Management is the primary investing area within Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), delivering investment and advisory services across public and private markets for the world’s leading institutions, financial advisors and individuals. The business is driven by a focus on partnership and shared success with its clients, seeking to deliver long-term investment performance drawing on its global network and deep expertise across industries and markets. Goldman Sachs Asset Management is a leading investor across fixed income, liquidity, equity, alternatives, and multi-asset solutions. Goldman Sachs oversees more than $3.3 trillion in assets under supervision as of December 31, 2025.
iShares
An introduction to Equity High Income Active ETFS
Speakers
Representatives
Think differently about income with active ETFs
In this presentation, our team introduces two actively managed equity income ETFs designed for investors seeking a high level of income alongside the potential for long term capital growth. These strategies aim to deliver income +7% p.a. with lower volatility than their reference benchmarks, offering a modern approach to equity income investing.
We explore our innovative and differentiated investment process, which combines portfolio manager expertise with big data and machine learning to identify new and diverse sources of income. Our proprietary model helps reduce the style biases often found in traditional income strategies, while supporting more resilient income generation. This is complemented by a disciplined portfolio construction approach and an options overlay strategy designed to enhance income and manage risk across changing market conditions.
Workshop Objective:
Learn how active equity income ETFs use innovative models and disciplined risk management to deliver high income +7%p.a. and long term growth potential with a more controlled volatility profile.
Company Profile: About iShares
iShares has been a leader in the exchange traded fund (ETF) marketplace for more than two decades. As part of BlackRock, iShares benefits from the scale, expertise and rigorous risk management culture of one of the world’s largest asset managers. Our ETFs are engineered by investment professionals who apply disciplined investment processes and deep risk management expertise across a broad range of asset classes and strategies.
With a global range of more than 1,400 ETFs, iShares is committed to unlocking opportunity across markets, helping investors—from individuals to institutions—build portfolios that reflect their goals, preferences and ambitions. Our focus is on providing innovation, transparency and efficient access to markets worldwide.
J.P Morgan Asset Management
Opportunities in Global Fixed Income with Active ETFs
Representatives
Learn how active ETFs like the JPM Global Government Bond Active UCITS ETF and JPM Global IG Corporate Bond Active UCITS ETF provide liquidity, flexibility, and risk-adjusted returns, helping investors navigate interest rate shifts and market volatility.
Workshop Objective: Gain educational insight into the current fixed income landscape and the growing importance of active ETFs. This session explores macroeconomic trends, sector-level developments, and the unique advantages of active management in fixed income.
Robeco
Next frontier of investing: Systematic Fixed Income
Representatives
While systematic equity strategies have seen strong momentum over the past decades, the adoption of systematic fixed income has lagged. We believe this is about to change.
Robeco has been at the frontier of systematic fixed income investing, boasting decades of research and live strategies, and has recently entered the ETF space with a suite of compelling systematic fixed income solutions. In this session, we explain the benefits of systematic investing in fixed income, how Robeco achieves unique alpha through quantitative techniques with strict risk and tracking error discipline and the integration of AI across the portfolio management value chain.
Van Eck
Moving Beyond Market Cap: A New Core Equity Playbook
Representatives
The session will explore how investors can approach core equity allocations in a changing market environment, considering the limitations of commonly used indices.
We will introduce quality-focused strategies through moat investing, alongside dividend-based approaches, to highlight how these frameworks may support resilience, income generation, and portfolio diversification.
Delegates will consider how combining quality and income exposures can help build more balanced portfolios across different market conditions.
Workshop Objective: Delegates will explore how quality and dividend-based equity strategies can be incorporated within core allocations to enhance diversification and support portfolio outcomes in the current market environment.
Company Profile: With over $228 billion in AUM globally, VanEck is a global investment manager offering forward-thinking solutions to enhance portfolios. Our range spans intelligently designed ETFs, active strategies, and SMAs, providing targeted exposure to emerging industries, asset classes, and markets - as well as innovative core strategies. In Europe, VanEck manages over $43 billion in assets, with the majority held across 37 UCITS ETFs. These span thematic strategies, hard assets, strategic equity, dividend stocks, crypto ETNs and more. We focus on identifying economic, technological, political, and social trends that drive compelling investment opportunities. A pioneer in international investing, gold, and ETFs, VanEck continues to deliver both core and specialised strategies designed to support diversification and long-term growth. (data as of 30th Apr 2026).
Xtrackers by DWS
The Evolution of Synthetic Investing
Representatives
This presentation provides an overview of synthetic ETFs, focusing on how swap-based structures are used to deliver index exposure. Rather than holding underlying securities, synthetic ETFs enter into total return swaps with counterparties, exchanging portfolio returns for index performance.
It highlights the advantages of synthetic replication, particularly in markets such as the US, China and India, where access, tax efficiency or market restrictions can make physical replication less effective.
The presentation also outlines key considerations for investors, including counterparty risk, the use of multiple counterparties, collateral quality, and embedded costs such as swap and management fees when selecting a synthetic ETF.
Workshop Objective: Understand how synthetic ETFs use swaps to deliver index exposure, when they offer advantages, and how to assess risks, counterparties, and embedded fees when selecting suitable strategies for portfolios.
Company Profile: Xtrackers is DWS’s global platform for ETF- and ETC-solutions, bespoke strategies through index funds and segregated mandates and has one of the largest and most established product ranges in Europe, with a global presence and more than £265 billion [incl. mandates] in assets under management (as of April 27, 2025). Xtrackers has an index track record going back over 20 years and offers a broad range of efficient, high-quality ETFs and ETCs on all major asset classes – equities, bonds and commodities. Xtrackers provides numerous building blocks across all wrappers for traditional investment strategies, actively managed ETFs, ESG strategies (environmental, social, governance), sector and factor investments, as well as innovative products on thematic investments and future trends.
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Agenda
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Time
Agenda
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12:20 - 13:20
Registration and lunch
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13:20 - 13:30
Welcome Address
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13:30 - 14:30
Conference Session 1 - Panel session: The great ETF divide - To be or not to be 'active', that's the question on everyone's mind
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14:30 - 15:00
Fund Group Workshop 1
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15:10 - 15:40
Fund Group Workshop 2
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15:50 - 16:20
Fund Group Workshop 3
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16:30 - 17:00
Fund Group Workshop 4
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19:30 - 20:00
Drinks Reception
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20:00 - 23:00
Table Planned Dinner
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Time
Agenda
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07:00 - 09:15
Breakfast at Leisure
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09:15 - 10:15
Conference Session 2 - Laura Gilbert
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10:15 - 10:45
Fund Group Workshop 5
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10:55 - 11:25
Fund Group Workshop 6
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11:35 - 12:05
Fund Group Workshop 7
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12:15-12:45
Fund Group Workshop 8
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12:45 - 14:00
Buffet Lunch
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Questions?
For more information, please contact:
Nour Azhar
Senior ETF Reporter, Citywire